PS5 and PS4 Players Will Be Able To Play Together Through Backwards Compatibility, Sony Says

Got a news tip?

Looks like playing multiplayer games on your next-gen PlayStation won't just limit you to other PS5 owners. Sony has confirmed that PS5 owners will be able to play with their PS4-owning friends through backwards compatibility.

This came during a question-and-answer session at Sony's IR Day 2019 conference, in response to a question about backwards compatibility. He says that backwards compatibility is something that's "incredibly powerful" and a "critical success factor." We've known for a while that the PlayStation 5 will be able to play PlayStation 4 games, but the ability to still hop into an Apex match with your PS4 friends lets you upgrade without as much worry about userbase.

"Backwards compatibility gives us the opportunity to migrate that community from PlayStation 4 to next-gen," said chief executive officer Jim Ryan. "Using the ability to play the PS4 games that they have on their next-generation console."

Vice president John Kodera emphasized the ability to not only play old games on the PS5, but play them together across console generations as a community, as a positive. Buying a PS5 on launch day won't mean you suddenly can't play games with all your friends still playing on the PlayStation 4.